Welcome to “Great Gift Giving” week here on the Scrapbook Lady blog! If you’ve been around here before, you know that I love to gift gifts and one of my favorite things is to share all my ideas and finds with my readers. I have so many gift giving ideas to tell you about this year, I thought I would devote an entire theme week to the topic. So fun! If you are looking for the cute holiday presents graphic I found it at at Lettering Delights under the search terms “present time”. The font is LD Pookie (one of my favorites!) which is also from at Lettering Delights.
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Today I’m sharing gift ideas for the scrapbooker. I should probably clarify that I’m a digital scrapbooker these days, so a lot of the items will be centered around my love of digi, but there should be something for just about everyone. There are also several gifts that will appeal to both paper and digital scrappers alike.
THE GIFT OF INSPIRATION:
All scrapbookers can use some inspiration to help them get creative and stay motivated. These books and magazines will help any type of scrapper feel inspired and they all make great gifts! You can give a magazine subscription as a gift, wrap up a book, or even select a few magazines & books to put in a cute basket. Add some other scrapbook goodies for an extra special touch! These are the publications I love:
Scrapbooks Etc. by Better Homes & Gardens
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Creating Keepsakes Magazine
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Artful Blogging by Stampington. I really think blogging is a form of scrapbooking and this is a beautiful magazine!
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Blogging for Bliss is a great book about blogging. This would be wonderful for anyone wanting to get started with a blog (or anyone who wants to improve their blogging skills)
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Scrapbooking for Baby by Scrapbooks Etc. This would be a great gift for an expectant or new Mom. It would be darling to wrap it up with a few cute baby items as well. You can read my full review here.
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Scrapbook Page Maps 2 (I’m sure version 1 is also good, but I don’t have it yet). This is a great idea book! You can read my full review here.
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Memory Logbook for 2011. This is such a great way to get organized + inspired for scrapbooking! Read my full review here.
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The Book of Awesome. While it’s not a scrapbooking book, it will give you so many ideas for documenting awesome memories! This blog that inspired this book was my my “pick of the week” for episode 19 of the Paperclipping Digi Show podcast.
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TOOLS OF THE TRADE:
These are the scrapbooking tools that I use and love. The software programs will also be useful to paper scrappers because they can be used for all types of photo editing and even some great journaling and title work. Many of today’s scrappers are actually hybrid (using both paper and digital methods) although most of them probably don’t realize that term applies to them.
Scotch Precision Ultra Edge Scissors. My favorite scissors. You can read my full review here.
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Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller (refills available). My favorite scrapbook adhesive. My favorite scissors. You can read my full review here.
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Wrinkle-Free Glue Stick. This is the glue stick I prefer to use for creating homemade cards and paper projects. You can read my full review here.
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Fiskars 12 inch portable paper cutter. I still use this all the time and not even just for scrapbooking projects. I actually own 4 of these (I used to teach paper scrapping workshops) and we are always using them (even hubby!) I’m not sure how we ever got along before paper cutters were around.
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Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. I’ve used version 8 for awhile now and I LOVE it! I haven’t upgraded to 9 yet, but I’m going to for sure. I was invited to the virtual press conference when 9 was released and I got to see some of the amazing things it can do. Sometimes an upgrade isn’t that big of deal, but this one is worth doing in my opinion. After I get the program and get going with it, I will be sure to blog more about what it can do.
By the way, I don’t think this is just for digital scrapbookers. I think digital editing programs can be part of anyone’s toolbox and they are very useful for photo editing, journaling, title work, and more.
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On that same note, I also think Lightroom is a great gift for a scrapbooker. I included more details about that in yesterday’s post.
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CLASSES & GIFT CERTIFICATES:
Just like any other hobby, it’s always nice to have some gift cash to spend on the supplies or learning you really want to invest in. If you are buying for a paper scrapper, a gift card to a local scrapbook or craft store is always appreciated. The digital scrapbooker will love online gift certificates the most. A few of the digital stores I recommend are:
- The Shabby Shoppe (gift cards available)
- Designer Digitals (gift certificates available)
- MScraps (gift certificates available)
- Sweet Shoppe (gift certificates available)
Classes are also a great gift, especially online classes because the recipient can do them at their own pace, according to their own schedule. I love to learn new tricks! Some of my favorites are:
- Yesterday & Today by Ali Edwards at Big Picture – this is an amazing workshop!
- Learn Photoshop with digital scrapbook templates at Get it Scrapped – a fabulous and easy way to learn digital scrapbooking
- Mad digital skillz series with Pattie Knox at Get it Scrapped – Pattie is an incredible teacher!
- Building Pages with Debbie Hodge at Get it Scrapped – Great class for learning and understanding all sorts of page design. Read my full review here.
- Digital Techniques for Art Journaling with Pattie Knox at Get it Scrapped. Super creative and fun class! Read my full review here.
- My class at Big Picture on making fun and colorful mosaics
I’ve had lots of good feedback from those who have taken it.
TECHNOLOGY:
Today’s memory keeper has an array of technology to help them document, scrap, and share their precious memories. Here are some great ideas if you want to give the gift of technology (one of my favorite kinds of gifts!)
Laptops, external hard drives, and tablets are all great gifts for any type of scrapbooker and memory keeper. Even paper scrappers have digital photos to manage. Digital scrapbookers might be even more choosy when it comes to their computing needs since many of them might be a little more on the tech-fanatic side of things. It’s a good idea to do a little research on this and find out what their needs are. Are they interested in Mac or PC? Desktop or Laptop? Personally I love my PC laptop, but I know there are lots of good ones out there. My suggestion is to get the most RAM and speed that you can afford.
I don’t currently use a tablet so I really can’t recommend one of those at this time.
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Everyone seems to have a different opinion on external hard drives. Personally, I’ve had the best luck with this Seagate model (1 TB size)
I love the big storage capacity and the small physical size of this drive. I wouldn’t buy any smaller than 500 GB in a hard drive, and I really recommend 1TB if you can swing the extra cost.
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Technically speaking, an iPad is not a necessity for scrapbooking, but there are many ways it will help you be more productive as a scrapbooker as explained in this article on The Daily Digi.
The iPad It is also a fantastic way to share (and even edit) photos. You can also display actual scrapbook layouts and some scrappers have even digi scrapped on an iPad. I haven’t done that (yet), but I’ve used it for so much more than I ever thought I would! I really recommend getting at least the 32 GB size or the 64 GB if you can afford it. You want to have lots of room for movies, music, and photos. You might want to consider getting one with 3G service. I don’t have that, but I’m home a lot and can use a wireless router. If I was on the go more often, I would probably want the 3G service.
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I looked at a lot of cases for my iPad and this is the one I like the best.
Apple iPad case. I like how it props up the ipad in horizontal view for easy work access. It’s simple, thin, and does a great job of protecting the iPad while keeping it accessible.
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GENERAL SCRAPBOOK RELATED GIFTS:
I love these scrapbooking mysteries by Laura Childs and I think they would make a great gift for anyone who loves scrapbooking and enjoys mysteries. You can read more about them here and here.
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Time to Scrap! How about a gift certificate for the scrapbooker to have some time away to get some scrapping done? You could print up a gift certificate to offer free babysitting (if needed) and a chance for the scrapper to get away for a few hours (or even days). There are retreats and classes to sign up for, but I know that many would just love a chance for a few hours of uninterrupted time at home. I know I would love that!
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Do you have any ideas for gifts for scrapbookers? I know there are many more fun things out there. Hopefully this list will give you some fun ideas for gifts to give, or gifts to hint for.
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If you are looking for some fun gift ideas for kids (or kids at heart) be sure to check out our Toy blog this week. We are blogging about great giving ideas there as well.
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